Khaleda to meet Pranab today
Khaleda to Meet Pranab Today
Saturday, 03 November 2012 Author / Source: ..
NEW DELHI, NOV 2: Opposition chief Khaleda Zia will meet Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday on the last day of her weeklong visit. Vice-Chairman Shamser Mobin Chowdhury, one of the entourage members of the BNP Chairperson, told reporters about the meeting at a press briefing at Hotel Taj Palace on Friday night, reports bdnews24.com "Before leaving for home, the Opposition Leader will meet President Pranab Mukherjee at 10:30am on Saturday at Rashtrapati Bhavan (the official residence of the President)," he said.
Though Khaleda was scheduled to meet the President on the first day of her tour on Oct 28, the meeting was rescheduled due to the oath-taking ceremony of the newly installed Cabinet members which was administered by the President the same day. Chowdhury, a former diplomat-turned-politician, said the former Prime Minister would fly for Dhaka by a Jet Airways flight at 12:30pm (India time).
Khaleda kicked off her India tour last Sunday on invitation of the Indian government.
With only a year to the parliamentary elections, the BNP considers the visit 'very significant' while India says it 'is part of their engagement with Bangladesh's democratic and multiparty polity'.
During her tour, she also met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, National Security Adviser of India Shivshankar Menon, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and BJP President Nitin Gadkari.
Bilateral issues like Teesta water sharing, Tipaimukh Dam project, border killing and trade deficit were high on agenda during her meetings with the top Indian leaders.
She also visited Ajmer Sharif in the Indian state of Rajasthan and offered prayers at the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.
She last visited to India in 2006 as the Prime Minister. Our Correspondent adds from Delhi: Begum Zia was unable to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
In what was comparatively an uneventful day for BNP Chief and Leader of the Opposition in Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia had only one consequential meeting with Nitin Gadkari, President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Indias major Opposition Party.
Not initially on the agenda, this meeting, it is learnt was at the behest of Gadkari. According to Samsher Mobin Chowdhury, Gadkari had expressed a desire to meet Begum Zia. She had earlier called on BJPs Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and had also met senior BJP leader L.K.Advani on the sidelines of the lunch the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh had hosted for her earlier this week.
The meeting which lasted over 45 minutes was officially described as a familiarization exercise given that the two leaders have never met before: It was Mobin said a process of knowing each other.
Gadkari on his part told Begum Zia that in the state of Maharashtra wherein he had organisized rural development programmes he had used the Grameen Bank example as a role model.